Monday, October 27, 2008

Jigoku Shoujo Mistuganae epsiodes 1-3

Hm. It can't be just me who's noticed an abundance of 'yama' (山) in Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae. The kanji 山 (yama) means mountain. Ai's new subordinate is named Yamawaro (山童) and he's named after a Japanese mountain demon. The boy who makes a contract with Ai in episode 2 is named Kitayama Akira (北山 明) and the victim is Yamaoka Seiji (山岡誠次).The victim/antagonist in episode 3 is named Moriyama Jun (森山ジュン).

Also the victims of the grudges seem a bit more ambiguous than they'd been in previous seasons. The victim in episode 1 was harsh on the outside, but was actually misudged by his student and sent to hell anyway. Episode 3's victim seemed genuinely repentant for her misdeeds, but the interference of her agent may have led the person who sent her to hell to think that she wasn't really sorry. It seems truly unfortunate that the understanding came too late or not at all in both cases and it seems to really take a toll on Ai's host, Yuzuki.

Episode 2 was a little different in that the victim appears to be a bad person, but his wife Mistuko, whom he tormented, disappears after he is gone, and did not seem to want to leave him. It's an example of how delicate relationships are and how rare it is for a person to be truly bad. Many of the people sent to hell really are bad people and have no remorse for the pain they cause others, like the vet who let people's animals die (RAGE!!) or the guy who raped and murdered one client's sister. Akira, the boy who sent Mitsuko's husband to hell, finds a picture of the two of them happy together. Mitsuko's husband may not have always been abusive towards her, and even when Ai takes him to hell, he claims that he was trying to protect her.

People misjudge others and make mistakes, or cause harm when they believe they are helping. The show has always had ambiguous or unclear episodes, or instances where someone was sent to hell who may not have deserved it, but so far, that's all this season's had. No victim this season has yet been portrayed as a really bad person with no redeeming qualities. I'm wondering if it will stay that way.

In addition to that, all the victims and the people who send them to hell are acquaintances of or somehow meet Ai's host, Yuzuki. That seems a bit strange, like how in Sailor Moon, the monsters or whatever always struck somewhere that one or more of the sailor senshi would be. Always. Will that be the case throughout the season?